Freelance Traveller - Columns - Confessions of a Newbie Referee

Confessions of a Newbie Referee

by Timothy Collinson

Some essays on the thought processes that a new referee has gone through in hopes that he won’t go wrong.

#1: Fears Will I Get It Right?
#2: Canon How 'by the book' do I make the setting?
#3: The Game That Was Proselytizing Traveller, given an opening...
#4: The Game That Wasn't A Playtest doesn't come off
#5: Nervous Excitement Anticipation, the good and the bad
#6: Handouts Verisimilitude is good, but can be overdone
#7: Combat Is fighting really necessary to make a good adventure?
#8: LARP Does acting it out have a place?
#9: Tablet Amanuensis How having a tablet increased output.
#10: Curse or Blessing? CFS and its effect on productivity
#11: Ideas Sources of Inspiration
#12: Creativity The Creative "I"
#13: Ego Egoboo, and why it's good.
#14: Awards On being recognized
#15: Why Make It Hard? The good and the bad of complexity
#16: Letting the Side Down Disappointing the players sometimes happens.
#17: Bibliomania Collecting, cataloging, and weeding
#18: Tsundoku Another side of bibliomania.
#19: Jealousy Sometimes, you want more than you can have...
#20: Mixed Feelings Changes.
#21: End of an Era or Start of a New? More changes.
#22: Welcome to Traveller! Introducing a colleague to Traveller for the first time
#23: Genius Genius is where you find it. Mining it works, too.
#24: Dare to Go There? Does religion or spirituality have a place in a game?
#25: After Four Decades... The Traveller Adventure At Last An opportunity to fulfill a longstanding desire.
#26: Be Careful What You Wish For If your wish for more Traveller comes true, can you handle it?
#27: Still a Newbie What makes a 'newbie'?
#28: Keeping Track Behind the scenes, and at the scene
#29: Slow Time Taking adventures in bite-sized chunks
#30: Dead Time Getting away is sometimes necessary.
#31: Off Piste If the players do something unexpected... maybe it's an opportunity for the referee!
#32: Regular if not Frequent Keeping a campaign going, slowly
#33: Missing Players NPCs or offstage?
#34: Onwards, Upwards, Outwards CFS: Keeping on keeping on, or a real downer?
#35: Sabbatical Taking a year off
#36: Closer to God Creativity, like Creation, is a gift
#37: A Change of Course New directions, new skills, new vistas
#38: A Job Ad of Sorts A living bibliography is not a simple task
#39: Creations Coming to Life A whimsical 'mascot' becomes part of the adventure
#40: My Babies When others want to run my work...
#41: Ebb and Flow On Losing and Gaining Players
#42: Write What You Know On applying one's own experiences
#43: Minimalism How do they do so much with so little?
#44: Rabbit Holes Talking about the minutiae about anything...
#45: Half a Million Words! Write, even if it's not perfect
#46: Not So Easy Pieces The complications of hedgehogs and pianos
#47: Lockdown Breakdown The perils of staying in
#48: One Thing Leads to Another Traveller as a vehicle for the numinous.
#49: Words of Affirmation The Power of Positive Acknowledgement
#50: I Hate It One short section can spoil an entire book.
#51: Hope Upbeat works
#52: A Break Needed. Definitely.
#53: Development A matter of approach
#54: Getting Real Were the past two years NOT real?
#55: The End Is In Sight The end of two adventures approaches
#56: The End Wrapping up, and reflections on the journey
#57: The Beginning Looking forward to the next journey
#58: Dancing to the Music of the Spheres Aspiring to see the whole, not just the parts and their sum
#59: More Music Thoughts that second chairs may be a first-class idea
#60: Another Dimension Creativity as an attribute in which man becomes more...
#61: Room for More! Heaven is pretty big. Should imagination be smaller?
#62: Actual Play Why would you want to watch someone else play instead of getting involved yourself?
#63: A Crowning Event Of referees and kings
#64: Outrageous Peace Focus, and Clarity, and Peace
#65: More Medtech Please! Subject to the present of medicine, wondering about its future
#66: A Caring Community Appreciating the reaction of the Traveller community
#67: Biotech Contemplating the body and when it doesn’t work quite right
#68: “Artistic” Maps Sometimes you really do want less to get more...
#69: Character Descriptions How many words create a picture?
#70: More Space-based Horror? De gustibus non disputandum est, sed non amare me
#71: Shame On having high expectations for oneself, and not meeting them
#72: Utter Relief; Utter Releases On the idea of allowing emotions to ... emote

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